Frome woman wins national award for local charity

A national award for Innovation in Care for People with MS, has been presented to Rosie Eliot, who is the director of a local charity that provides long-term weekly therapies for people with multiple sclerosis (MS).

Based in Warminster, the Wessex Multiple Sclerosis Therapy Centre supports hundreds of people in Wiltshire, Somerset, North Dorset, B&NES and East Hampshire by offering therapies and treatments to include weekly physiotherapy, oxygen treatment, counselling, massage therapy, Pilates, yoga and hosts regular lunch clubs for all of the members.

The awards ceremony was hosted by the MS Trust who work in conjunction with Pharmaphorum who present the QuDoS awards for Recognising Quality in the Delivery of Services in Multiple Sclerosis. The therapy centre was recognised for the MS Buddy scheme which is a new initiative set up by Rosie, offering companionship in the home for people with MS who have experienced a relapse or suffer from social isolation due to their MS.

Rosie said, ‘We are all delighted to win this award, it takes a strong hard-working team to manage new initiatives in an already full workload.

“The MS Buddy scheme is open to everyone living in our area who has MS and we currently have volunteers visiting people in their homes in Trowbridge, Westbury, Warminster, Frome and Salisbury. If it wasn’t for these volunteers offering their time and their friendliness, we would not have won this award – so a very big thank you goes out to all the volunteers out there, that help to bring a better quality of life to so many people’.

Above: Carol Coates volunteer coordinator, Rosie Eliot (centre) director, and Denise Middleton, NHS Foundation Trust.